I Abandoned Nvidia for My Ham Station Computers

I use Ubuntu on my Ham Shack Computers, and have recently installed the new revision 12.04. All of my Ham Applications seem to work much better with this new release, the sound system seems to work predictably and correctly.

But, I gave up on graphics, after several days of frustration trying to get my Nvidia G7000 Graphics Card to work in the 3D mode on Ubuntu (see previous post).

I decided to try to replace the "Nvidia Graphics Card" with my Son's discarded and dying "ATI Radeon HD 5450" graphics card. A little repair of the card's fan and a little micro surgery was necessary to bring the "ATI Radeon" roaring back to life.

I installed the repaired ATI Radeon card, rebooted and it worked as expected in 2D mode. I then installed the suggested Drivers, and rebooted, - it just worked!  -  No hassle nor pain, Ubuntu graphics now runs in the 3D mode!

After much research, I found that; due to lack of manufactures supported or open drivers, the Nvidia Cards are not well supported for use with Ubuntu. For my other system upgrades, I am going to abandon Nvidia in favor of ATI.

I really like the new 3D Graphics menus and workspaces!

Note: The menus do not actually appear in 3D, but Ubuntu does use the graphics card's 3D processor to quickly and dynamically display the menus and workspaces. In 2D mode, some functionality is not available.

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My Update to Ubuntu 12.04

Last weekend my Son, requested help installing Ubuntu on one of his old Laptops and an old Workstation. He has only used MS up until now. I have always used some flavor of Linux for most of my systems from the beginning  (as far back as Minux). For my Son, I suggested Ubuntu as that is what I have been using for the last few years, and it is easy to admin!

I have been using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS since 2010 (as implied by the Rev Number). The LTS suffix means that the Rev has what is called "Long Term Support" from developers. I like LTS as it is more likely to be stable. Because I am mostly satisfied with my Ubuntu installation, I had not kept up with the latest news of additional releases. But, for my Son new installations I wanted to review the latest available release. To my pleasant surprise the current Rev of Ubuntu is 12.04 with LTS.  I should have known as it is a even numbered release. For those that do not know, the first two digits of the Rev number is the year and the last is the month. The developers plan is an LTS for each even numbered year.

To me this is good news, I could install Ubuntu 12.04 on my Son's fresh wiped systems, before I would have to figure out how to do the same on my established systems.

We downloaded the ~700MByte Ubuntu 12.04.1 ISO file, to my Laptop and proceeded to transfer the file to a USB  thumb drive. But we could not get his older workstation to boot from the USB. The solution should be simple; transfer the image to CD, but that did not work, the image is larger than a CD. A DVD is necessary, but that is OK as my laptop contains a DVD burner. The image was transferred onto the DVD, but then that did not work as the Workstation and Laptop could not use the image written at high speed. With some research,  the recommended speed was below 4X. A new DVD was burned at low speed. The Laptop install process was a little slow, but going well enough that a second DVD was burned to use with the Workstation. The Workstation was much faster than the Laptop and finished first. We then had fun playing and admin'ing the two new systems.

That night when I got home (about 10pm) I decided that was easy and therefore I should update my (established) Laptop. It would not be a fresh install, but an update, preserving as all of the user data. At about 3:30am when I went to bed,  I had still not completed the task. The next morning all went well and now I have a Laptop running Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS.

I tried to do the same with one of my Workstation, to make a long story short, I attempted to update the system twice and scratch installed it four additional times, my user data was on another disk and therefore a install was not a great lose. In general, the problem and answers were: Build from DVD and not try to use an USB, the NVIDIA video card that the Workstation contains is not supported very well. Ubuntu 12.04 uses what is called Unity for windowing, the menus and workspaces are best viewed in the 3D mode, NVIDA 3D is not currently supported by Ubuntu.

Self Image

But, after many hours, I have Ubuntu 12.04.1 on two system, and to my surprise the major thing that I have always complained about Ubuntu, appears to be FIXED. Before at rev 10.40, the "sound" system seemed to never worked right, now it seem to just work -Yeah!

I am going to like Ubuntu 12.04.1 :-)

More details and progress may follow.

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Litter Photographed on Mars

Sixty five days after landing, "Litter" was photographed on Mars.

The Litter appears to be a plastic tape fragment. Curosity's arm hand camera took the following close-up photo.

Litter found on Mars

The JPL crew is trying to determine the litter's origin. They are assuming it fell off of Curosity, and wondering "how or if " system integrity has been compromise. Read the full story here or see a video (mov) here.

It would be interesting to know if it was dropped here by Curosity, or debris scattered here as part of the Landing 65 days ago.

My questions are:

• Did they bring a Trash Sack to collect their own Litter?
• Do they plan to attempt retrieving the Litter?
• How long do they think plastic will last on Mars?

Remember on Earth, the rule is:
Pack it in - Pack it out!

Ham Radio

I will get back to "Ham Radio Blogging" soon, I have several projects in the works, two PCB's being manufactured, and currently having fun attempting to gennerating PSK31 with the Prop.

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Curiosity's First Major Rock Photos

On Sol0038 Curiosity took the first photo of a major rock along its path. Although, it may be just a layer of hard crusted dirt.

Curiosity's First Major Rock

From this and previous photos, it appears the Curiosity has been climbing up a very slight slope, with a some distance to go to the crest.

On Sol0040 it appears that Curiosity has almost made it to the the crest of the rise and then it will be going down hill for a while.

Near the Crest of the Rise
On the way to Mount Sharp

The slope of the land is not real apparent in the individual 2D images, only in 3D is it obvious.

Disclaimer: Raw Curiosity photos are available from the NASA web site,  Cross-Eyed Images above were constructed by Eldon Brown, with Image-Magick.

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More Local 3D Views

I have been playing some more with Cross-Eye 3D photos. This time the subject is the view out of my loft window. The lighting is not very good, but there are two Deer in the frame. They are very small and seen; below, and slightly to the right of the closest branch of the foreground tree. One is forward a little and laying down, the other is standing a little further back, looking over her left shoulder.

Deer Seen From My Loft
Sep 16, 2012

If I had known the deer were in the shot, I would have tried to use some zoom.

I found a easy way to take the two photos, slide the camera along a small angle of wood or something that is stable. My camera sits nicely and square against a supporting back lip. Between the two shots, I slid the camera about 3 or 4 inches.

Note: if you do not look at this in 3D, you may not determine the branch that I refereed to and therefore may not be able to see the Deer.

Here is an interesting Cross-Eye 3D Video that may help explain the viewing technique.

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UPDATE:

Fall is in the air:

Nov 2, 2012

Nov 8, 2012

Nov 15, 2012

Nov 25, 2012 13:15

Dec 18, 2012 10:00
First Snow

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Many Similar Hobbies

I have enjoyed the Amateur Radio Hobby since I was in High School and like most fellow Hams, I have met many friends because of it.

There appears to be similar theme among all those that play with radios; They all seem to enjoy additional and a similar set of hobbies. The second most represented hobby is Aviation, either Full Size and/or RC Scale.

For 12 years, I flew my full size and very fast Cessna 182 RG - N5196R camping around the Pacific Northwest and I enjoyed it immensely.

5196R - Flying near Redline
165 Knots (190 mph) at 30 feet
Concrete Wa - 1994 Flyin

Much earlier, my Son and I flew U-control for a while and then gravitated to RC flying back in the old 27MHz days. Of course we had to upgrade to 72MHz to avoid control problems, and all the new stuff was coming out on 72MHz. We could still find simple and inexpensive RC Transmitter and Receivers. Motors seemed expensive at the time at about $40 for a Cox 0.25. But we saved a lot on scratch and simple kit planes. Personally, I never liked; the fuel, oily clean-up and all of the mess associated with powered RC flight. We gravitated in another direction to Sailplanes. We flew at a remote site, where High Start Lines could be used.

We (mostly I) then left the RC hobby spending more time working for a living and flying my Cessna. My son continued with his interest of RC Flying and still has bits and pieces of some of our previous RC aircraft. He expanded into the expensive ($600) Computer Controlled Transmitters and the new GHz frequencies. I considered it all to be too expensive to keep up with the advances. . . .

until recently.

I found and purchased a new 2GHz 6 Channel TecTic Transmitter and Receiver for only $99 from TowerHobbies.com. I purchased two sets, for less than one typical Big Brand Named systems. It is a nice setup. The mode-2 TecTic Transmitter is "wireless" buddy cord Ready, easy to set up and use, at the touch of a switch. I am rusty, and still need a little refresher-help when I attempt to fly.

I still like to fly Sailplanes, but now they are electric powered as a motor glider, I now have the Vista Sailplane ARF. Even with my re-newed interest in RC flying. Lack of time, and assistance has slowed my re-learning process. My two planes set in the shop, with the batteries draining from lack of use.

Mark, of BrainWagon.com Fame, has posted several nice blog entries; here and here, that has rekindled my interest in RC Flying. Mark's latest adventure is here.

The new electric motors, batteries and servos do not seem expensive for scratch built foamies and park flyers.

I also found a $15 Flight Simulator setup from HobbyKing.com, now I can continue to practice even when it is raining here in the Seattle area. I do plan to spend more time RC flying (and/or fly fishing) this next year.

With my dog "Tess", Ham Radio, RC Flying (and Fly Fishing), I may not have time enough time for all that I want to do - but it will be . . . fun trying :-)

Note: I just found out that my Cessna 182 (non-RG) is available as a RC Aircraft, . . . it could be fun,  . . . but it would not be the same!!

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My Prop LU Implementation

My forum links are archived here for follow up reference.

Prop LU via Indexed Methods
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?142348-A-quot-Gem-quot-found-in-the-Prop-Q-amp-A

And here, Prop Load Average
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?142379-SPIN-Task-Switching-for-us-Prop-Noobies

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My 3D IC-730 Station

I have had so much fun creating Cross-Eye 3D (CE3D) Images from the Mars Curiosity photos (see previous posts), that I thought I would try it with my own camera.

Here is a CE3D image of my IC-730 Stations:

Cross-Eye 3D Image of
My IC-730 Station 

Click the image to view in a larger format.

To create the CE3D image I took two photos of the same scene, from a slightly different camera position (displaced about the width of my eyes). The camera was atop a tripod with the three legs almost vertical but yet stable. The right two of the legs were inline with the photo's subject. For the second shot, the third (left) leg was moved sideways a few inches on the floor. The tripod provided a simple yet effective stable platform for both shots.

Yes, this third leg tripod technique does introduce a little miss-alignment, but it is quick and easy. I may investigate a simple sliding-mount adapter for the tripod.

Then I used ImageMagick to combine the two images into a CE3D image:

convert Right.jpg Left.jpg  -splice 10x0 +append -chop 10x0 -resize 1200  CE3D.jpg

This was fun and interesting, I may try this technique for some future electronic projects.

Here is an interesting Cross-Eye 3D Video that may help explain the viewing technique.

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UPDATE

Here is one of my Prop Projects, which has a lot of depth and therefore may make for an interesting CE3D image.

CE3D Prop Project

Interesting; If you see the time on the CE3D Image as "10:31:19" then you are probably - Right Eyed, but it you see time as "10:30:59", then - Left Eyed. The difference is course, is the time laps between two photos and you Dominate Eyes perception.

If you have trouble using the Cross-Eye Viewing Method for seeing the CE3D images, try this:

• Click on the above image to obtain a large image.
• While viewing at a distance of about 24 inches from the display.
• Stick your two index fingers straight up, within an inch of your eyes, one finger in front of each eye. 
• While closing you left eye, adjust the location of your right finger to block out just the right image, but still see the left image. Hold that location. 
• While closing your right eye, adjust the location of your left finger to block out just the left image, but still see the right image. 
• Now with out moving your fingers, open both eyes and gaze between your fingers at the 3D image, adjust your eyes to focus.

For some reason, this is less stressful on the eyes, even though it is exactly the same thing as un-aided Cross-Eye viewing.

Return to this page, I may soon have a few more CE3D photos to share.

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CW JPL Written in Mars Dust

From my perspective (setting on Earth) the most interesting photos take by the Mars Rover Curiosity, so far are the Navigation Camera Photos. These photos are taken by the two Masthead Nav Cameras. The resulting high resolution images can be merge into one 3D Cross-Eye Viewable image. Some of other cameras on Curiosity are monocular, and therefore their photos are not nearly as interesting.

Here are some fake color Cross-Eye Images taken on Sol-21. Click on the image for full size, then try the Cross-Eye 3D Viewing method.

Some of the First Tracks

"JPL" Written as CW-Code In the Sands of Mars

If you look close, you can almost decode the mound of dust as "JPL", which are the CW characters written by holes in the Wheel Treads. The Wheel Treads CW-Code prints were initially in sync. As expected, that didn't last long (up until the first turn as shown by the track circle on the left :-).

I created the Cross-Eye 3D Images via the ImageMagick command:

convert  NRA*.JPG  NLA*.JPG   -splice 10x0 +append -chop 10x0 -resize 1200 -fill '#630' -tint 150 3D.jpg

Here is the destination:

Destination: Mount Sharp

It is fascinating that these images came from Mars; from that distance and at such low power (now that is really QRP! :-).

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Mt Pilchuck Radio Trip

On Thursday, Bob - AD7BP, Tess and I went to the mountains to play with Radios. We drove up to my favorite place on Mt Pilchuck (at 2500') and set up our stations. The road was a bad as usual with large chuck holes and rocks, which helps keep traffic out of the area.

For Radios, Bob had his FT-817 and I had mine.

Station Setup

We set up the Shade or Rain shelter as the weather was uncertain, We then put up my 36' vertical. Bob strung up a long wire into the top of a small tree. He was ready and on the air within a few minutes.

Bob on PSK

The bands were quiet, but Bob snagged a nice PSK QSO and several other. I was not so lucky, but one local 6m contact. I did try my hand at SSB and CW on several bands.

Calling CQ

Bob's Longwire

As shown, Bob's long wire went from the tree top down to tuner on the table, and a short counterpoise laid out on the ground.

The Loop

Bob also tried his Loop, but I do not think he had much luck.

Two Rangers stopped by while patrolling the area. We had a nice chat, and they through Tess's Ball for her, which is always a real treat for her.

Tess - Waiting to play Ball

It was a good trip, I am ready to go again.

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